Mindfulness encourages people to become calm and focus their minds, and Matthew Johnstone's new book says photography can help.

Supplied: Matthew Johnstone

Much has been written about the elusive search for calm and happiness, and the latest offering comes from an author who says the best place to look might be through your camera's lens.

Matthew Johnstone, who spent more than a decade as an award-winning advertising creative before trying his hand at motivational writing and illustrating, has penned a new book about achieving peace by taking photos.

Capturing Mindfulness focuses on the increasingly popular practice of mindfulness, which typically involves regular meditation.

But instead of encouraging people to sit down and close their eyes, Johnstone urges them to open their eyes and go hunting for photos.

Johnstone spent years struggling with depression, particularly when he was working in the advertising industry in the US, and he says his road to recovery started when he picked up a camera.

"I was hating life, I was pretty miserable, I was living alone and I was single and I was doing a job that I really disliked and I didn't know anyone in San Francisco," he said at the Happiness and Its Causes conference in Brisbane on Monday.

"I went out and bought a camera, and in many ways I believe this camera saved my bacon. It was through this camera that I realised the whole concept and idea of being in the moment."

Johnstone has previously written bestselling books on his battle with depression and the benefits of mindfulness, but his latest work is the first to shine a light on photography.

Experts in mindfulness say the practice is all about trying to experience the present moment and trying to stop worrying about the past or the future.

There is a growing body of research supporting the benefits of mindfulness meditation in helping to treat various mental illnesses including depression and anxiety.

Johnstone says many people are turned off by the idea of sitting in one place doing nothing, and he says people can take up photography as a form of 'eyes-wide-open meditation'.

"Photography at the end of the day is really about stopping, it's really about seeing what's in front of us, it's really about stopping and focusing and it's about capturing that moment," he told the ABC.

"To give you an example I'm probably most excited when I'm in an industrial area, where there's peeling paint and rust and beautiful pipes and all that sort of stuff, and I get really excited and I have to calm myself.

"Because then I slow down and start going around and really noticing things and seeing the best angles and light and spots. That to me is my real joy."

He says there is no need to be a master photographer or have an expensive camera, pointing out that he takes many of his photos with his phone's camera.

"I don't know a lot about the technicalities of photography and I set most of my photos to auto, but the camera simply asks you what can you see that no-one else can? What captures your heart, your brain, your soul?," he said.

"But if you are going to use your mobile phone, please switch it to aeroplane mode so you don't get distracted by Angry Birds and messages and tweets and that kind of stuff."